May 30, 2024 - Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) is one of the busiest airports in the world. It is home to the second largest hub for the world’s largest airline, American Airlines.
With an average of 1,400 arrivals and departures each day, CLT is more airport than a city of Charlotte’s size needs. So, how did CLT become the major hub it is today?
CLT didn’t achieve this status overnight nor did it happen by accident. A series of forward-thinking city leaders, airline industry deregulation and key partnerships paved the way.
Charlotte Municipal Airport
When the Charlotte Municipal Airport, as it was called, first opened in 1936 the United States was deep in the Great Depression. But President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was giving funding to cities that hired the unemployed. That’s how Charlotte’s first little airport was built.
Mayor Ben Douglas saw an opportunity to thrust the Queen City into greatness by creating a first-class airport. He worked with the War Department to buy more land and turn the Airport into an air base that was called Morris Field. After World War II, Charlotte took ownership back and renamed it Douglas Municipal Airport.
New Terminals, New Business
Business really started to take off after a new terminal opened in 1954. Eastern Airlines made Douglas Municipal a hub in the 1960s. Winston-Salem-based Piedmont Airlines also started flying through Charlotte and wanted to bring in bigger jets. In the 1970s, Douglas Municipal Airport once again expanded, adding a second parallel runway, a new control tower and a new terminal.
Two events that happened in the late 1970s had major impacts on CLT: Congress deregulated the air travel industry, and an engineer named Jerry Orr left his family surveying business and came to work for the Airport.
Deregulation ended 40 years of government control over where airlines could fly and how much they could charge. Thomas Davis, founder of Piedmont Airlines wanted to fly more planes in and out of Charlotte, there just wasn’t enough room.
“Mr. Davis told me what he envisioned for the airline and asked me how we could make space for him here,” said Orr, who was Airport engineer at the time. “I took a piece of scratch paper and drew it out for him. He didn’t say anything. He just folded up that paper and put it in his pocket, and I knew what he was thinking.”
On April 25, 1982, Charlotte opened the new terminal with 25 gates in two concourses (Concourse B and Concourse C). That same day, Piedmont established its hub in Charlotte with 86 daily flights. The Airport was renamed Charlotte Douglas International Airport. Big things were on the horizon.
Why Charlotte?
Why did Piedmont Airlines choose to put its hub in Charlotte instead of Greensboro? Greensboro was closer to its headquarters in Winston-Salem. But Orr helped convince airline leaders to choose Charlotte.
Orr instilled his philosophy of providing the highest quality product for the lowest possible cost at the core of CLT’s business model, and it worked.
Two years after establishing its hub in Charlotte, Piedmont’s monthly customer traffic had nearly tripled. The airline accounted for about 70% of Charlotte Douglas Airport traffic, and that number would only grow.
Partners in Good Times and in Bad
When USAir bought Piedmont in 1989, it created the nation’s seventh largest airline. And as USAir grew, so did Charlotte Douglas. In 1994, the Airport built the Atrium to connect Concourse B and Concourse C, so travelers had more room to change flights.
USAir became US Airways in the 1990s. Its main hub was in Pittsburgh, but when that airport raised its prices following a costly renovation, the airline moved more flights to Charlotte. Orr, who was Airport director at the time, vowed to keep fees low, a philosophy that remains at CLT today.
US Airways is now American Airlines. Through all those mergers, a couple of bankruptcies, a terrorist attack and a global pandemic, the airline and CLT have worked together to get through the hard times and thrive during times of prosperity.
During one of US Airways’ bankruptcies, Orr temporarily deferred the airline’s landing fees at CLT. He knew it was in Charlotte’s best interest that the airline survive.
The gesture left a lasting impression on Terri Pope, who ran the US Airways hub at the time. “Jerry (Orr) really understood relationships,” Pope said.
“I can tell you there’s no other aviation director in the world who would have stepped out and done such a crazy thing, but he saw the future and what that meant. So, a little bit of sacrifice at that time is the reason the airline is still here.”
Today, American operates 90% of the gates at CLT and this summer the airline is ramping up to nearly 700 daily flights out of Charlotte.
Still Thriving
Charlotte Douglas continues to grow with the Airport’s capital improvement program Destination CLT, which includes the Terminal Lobby Expansion, concourse renovations and work underway on a Fourth Parallel Runway. And construction is likely to continue.
“I think we are on the cusp of several years of intense capital development,” said CLT CEO Haley Gentry. “This next evolution of the Airport will be focused on how to continue to grow the hub and our place in the community in a way that gives our customers and neighbors what they need.”
CLT is in the process of building a new front door to the Airport known as the Destination District. Planners envision a bustling commercial development with office space, a conference center and hotels, gas stations, restaurants and more.
Charlotte Douglas is the seventh busiest airport in the world for arrivals and departures, according to Airports Council International’s 2023 preliminary rankings. CLT contributes $32 billion a year to the North Carolina economy and more than 20,000 people work onsite.
It’s a far cry from Charlotte Municipal Airport’s humble beginnings, and this crown jewel of the Queen City continues to flourish.